Conventional former folders found in rotary printing presses are typically of two basic types, two-former folders and pinless former folders. The two-former type uses a gripper slow-down cylinder which delivers printed products directly to conveyor belts. The pinless former type uses high speed tapes, operating at approximately 9% above press speed, which transfers the printed products into a delivery fan which then delivers them to the conveyor belts. However, both of these folder types have operating speed limitations due to delivery system limitations. Furthermore, tape transfers often cause sheets to become skewed due to the inability of exact tape speed matches between inside and outside tapes.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,684,901 relates to a former folder having spring activatable folding rollers which permit removal of product jams occurring at high operational speeds. The folding rollers are fastened below a folding cylinder and during passage emboss a fold onto the printed products. Fan-wheel pockets receive the folded printed products which, afterwards, can be arranged on a delivery conveyor belt in shingled formation, i.e., one on top of another.
However, with this arrangement for transferring the printed products from the folding cylinder to the fan-wheel pockets, the printed products must be inserted into the middle of a nip between the folding rollers. At high production speeds, this can cause a jam to occur.